Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide

Books 2015 – on sale today – The Other Tudor Princess by Mary McGrigor

Posted on 5th January 2015 by Tamise

5 January – Margaret Douglas: The Other Tudor Princess by Mary McGrigor

‘The Other Tudor Princess brings to life the story of Margaret Douglas, a shadowy and mysterious character in Tudor history – but who now takes centre stage in this tale of the bitter struggle for power during the reign of Henry VIII. Margaret is Henry’s beloved niece, but she defies the king by indulging in two scandalous affairs and is imprisoned in the Tower of London on three occasions ‘not for matters of treason, but for love’. Yet, when Henry turns against his second wife Anne Boleyn and declares his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, bastards, it is Margaret he appoints as his heir to the throne. The arrangement of the marriage of Margaret’s son, Lord Darnley, to his cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots unites their claim to the throne and infuriates Queen Elizabeth. Yet this match brings tragedy, as Margaret’s son is brutally murdered. As Margaret reaches old age, her place in the dynasty is still not safe, and she dies in mysterious circumstances – was Margaret poisoned on the orders of Queen Elizabeth? Mary McGrigor tells this compelling and exciting part of Tudor history for the first time with all the passion and thrill of a novel, but this is no fiction – the untold story runs through the course of history, and Margaret secured the throne for her Stuart ancestors for years to come.’

From – Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

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A Queen of a New Invention: Portraits of Lady Jane Grey Dudley, England’s ‘Nine Days Queen’ by Stephan Edwards

Posted on 3rd January 2015 by Tamise

A book I am very much looking forward to will be published on 12 February (the 461st anniversary of Jane’s execution).

‘A Queen of a New Invention: Portraits of Lady Jane Grey Dudley, England’s ‘Nine Days Queen’ is the outcome of Dr Edwards’ investigation into the various portraits of Lady Jane.

‘Lady Jane Grey Dudley was proclaimed Queen of England on 10 July 1553 following the untimely death of Henry VIII’s only son and successor, King Edward VI. But sixteen-year-old Jane did not have the support of the majority of her would-be subjects. They rallied instead to Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary Tudor. Jane was deposed just nine
days after her reign began, earning for her the sobriquet ‘The Nine Days Queen.’ She was imprisoned in the Tower for six months before finally being executed on 12 February 1554.

Queen Jane remains the only English monarch of the past five centuries for whom no genuine portrait is known to have survived. Dozens of images have been put forward over those five centuries, but none has yet been conclusively authenticated. Neither has any comprehensive academic study of the iconography of Jane Grey Dudley ever been previously undertaken or published.

Now, through almost a decade of research leading up to this volume, twenty-nine surviving portrait-images said to depict Jane have been carefully and systematically sought out, analysed, and contextualized in an effort to determine whether any of them may be a reliable likeness. A handful of additional paintings all now lost are also discussed in detail. Finally, the single written account of Jane’s physical appearance, an account upon which historians have relied over the past century, is analysed for its own authenticity.’

‘J. Stephan Edwards holds a Ph.D. in Early Modern British History from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His Ph.D. dissertation was a biographical study of Jane Grey Dudley that situated her in the rapidly-changing social, cultural, political, and religious milieu of the sixteenth century. His investigation of the iconography of Jane began as an attempt to suitably illustrate his dissertation, but it rapidly evolved into a separate narrowly-focused study of portraits held in both public and private collections on three continents. Select portions of his research and findings on the subject of Jane Grey Dudley have previously been published by both popular and academic presses.’

The book has 222 pages and 29 portraits and74 full-colour illustrations. I will post a link to pre-order the book when it is available.

You can read more about the book at Stephan’s website – Some Grey Matter – A Queen of a New Invention

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2015 – a new book that will feature Lady Jane

Posted on 2nd January 2015 by Tamise

Historian, David Baldwin, has confirmed that Lady Jane features in a chapter of his new book, a biography of Jane’s step-grandmother, Katherine Willoughby.

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Review 2014

Posted on 31st December 2014 by Tamise

The year began with the 460th anniversary of Lady Jane’s execution and ended with the Streatham portrait back on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

(c) NPG 6804; Lady Jane Dudley (nee Grey) by Unknown artist

I visited the Tower of London on 12th February and left some flowers for Jane at the Chapel St Peter ad Vincula, where she is buried. You can read about my visit at Remembering Lady Jane.

Plaque commemorating Jane, Guildford, Henry, Duke of Suffolk and others in St Peter ad Vincula.
(c) Lara Eakins

I also continued the series Events by Place- Tower of London.

May saw the publication of ‘Sisters of Treason’, the second in the Tudor trilogy by Elizabeth Fremantle. The novel tells the story of Katherine and Mary Grey’s lives after the execution of their sister, Jane. I attended the launch party and it was lovely to meet Elizabeth Fremantle and also Linda Porter and to see Leanda de Lisle again.

Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House) kindly donated five copies to be won in a Q&A with Elizabeth Freemantle, who answered the questions submitted. Elizabeth also answered my questions in an interview .

A new series of articles ‘Another look at’ began with the anniversary of Jane’s wedding to Guildford Dudley on 25th May. I investigated whether the two letters discovered by Dr Stephan Edwards in 2013, add anything to our knowledge in Another look at…the wedding of Lady Jane.

Dr Stephan Edwards published his latest findings about the Streatham portrait and at the end of the month, it was removed from display at Montacute House in Somerset, in preparation for a new National Portrait Gallery exhibition.

The paperback of the bestselling, ‘Tudor: The Family Story’ by Leanda de Lisle was published in June. Leanda wrote a guest article Hunting Jane/Jane Doe and Chatto & Windus donated five copies to be won in a competition. This month also saw a competition to win a copy of ‘George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier and Diplomat’ by Clare Cherry and Claire Ridgway.

July marked the anniversary of the beginning and end of Jane’s reign. The series ‘Another look at’ continued with ‘Another look at…10th July 1553’ and ‘Another look at…19th July.’

‘The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered’ exhibition opened at the National Portrait Gallery on 12th September. The exhibition runs until 1st March 2015 and features the Lady Jane ‘Streatham’ portrait as well as objects relating to each of the Tudor monarchs. An excellent opportunity to see the rarely displayed locket ring belonging to Elizabeth I, The Queen Mary Book of Prayers, a page from Edward VI’s diary, Henry VIII’s rosary and a Book of Hours that belonged to Henry VII. You can read more about the exhibition at ‘My visit to The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered.’

Tomb of Lady Katherine Grey

I also finally posted about my visits to places connected to Katherine Grey (Salisbury Cathedral ) and Mary Tudor (St Mary’s Church – Bury St Edmunds ).

The final article in the ‘Another look at…’ series was a guest post at ‘On The Tudor Trail’ in October. ‘Another look at…Jane’s appearance’ investigated at if the two letters discovered by Dr Stephan Edwards add to our limited knowledge of what Jane looked like. With the ‘Streatham’ portrait back on display at the National Portrait Gallery, I had ‘A look at how the Streatham portrait has been displayed over the years.’

In November, the series ‘Distinguished Lives’ discussed the ‘Reign of Jane’ with Leanda de Lisle. The main points of the discussion can be read here and you can also listen to the podcast.

Books published in 2014 that featured Jane included: ‘Queen’s Gambit’ (paperback) by Elizabeth Fremantle, ‘Sisters of Treason’ by Elizabeth Fremantle, ‘Tudor: The Family Story (paperback) by Leanda de Lisle, ‘The Children of Henry VIII’ (paperback) by John Guy, ‘The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered’ by Tarnya Cooper and Charlotte Bolland, ‘An Illustrated Introduction to the Tudors’ (Paperback) by Gareth Russell and ‘Edward VI: The Last Boy King’ by Stephen Alford.

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